There are many aspects that make humans unique from other creatures on Earth: our ability to walk on two legs, our construction of cultures, and our ability to communicate through verbal and written language. It is this latter aspect that an entire subfield of anthropology is dedicated: linguistic anthropology. Linguistic anthropology is the incredibly broad study of language and culture, which includes are variety of avenues of research and areas of investigation. Today’s blog post will examine one of those areas, which is ecolinguistics.
Ecolinguistics is also often called environmental linguistics. It is a discipline that was formally recognized in the 1990s through the work of Michael Halliday, but it has roots in in linguistic determinism models, which posit that language affects one’s world view and ways of thinking and understanding the world. This foundational idea formed the early ecolinguistic ideas that impacted the field. Early ecolinguistic scholars believe that language is influenced by three environments: the physical, psychological, and social. Through each of these environments language is recognized as a physical manifestation of communication (through voice), a way of influencing and/or conveying individual thoughts, as well as a medium for fostering social interactions. These ideas are also foundational to other areas of anthropological linguistics, including sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics, but ecolinguistics focuses more on the physical environmental aspects of language, specifically concerning language as unique to humans and a means of human survival and language use related to ecological issues.
Ecolinguistics has expanded to focus on not just the biological need for language but also the social aspects. Ecolinguistic studies now include research into the loss of biolinguistics diversity/need to preserve endangered languages and the cultural knowledge imbued in those languages. This is particularly important among environmental conservationists who identify that indigenous groups knew and still know how to maintain and use their natural environments without damaging or destroying them, knowledge that could be key to preserving and saving unique and widespread environmental niches. Ecolinguistics also examines the formation and utilization of language to meet specific environmental conditions, such as how specific sounds may exist in some languages but not others (e.g. the whistle language, Sylbo that developed to accommodate the distinctive landscape).
Ecolinguistics is a vibrant and evolving field of study. The primary focus was and remains the environment, but where that focus lies-be it in the biological, psychological, or social-varies by the specific ecolinguistic scholar. There is a great deal of application potential and uses for this field of study, and anyone interested in environmental sciences, conservation, preservation, or manipulation should consider exploring this field further to identify ways of enhancing their own professional goals.
Works Cited
Chen, Sibo. (2016). Language and ecology: A content analysis of ecolinguistics as an emerging research field. Ampersand. 3. 10.1016/j.amper.2016.06.002.
Harrison, K. David. “Languages, Plants and People: On Environmental Linguistics.” Language Magazine (2019): n. pag. Print.
International Ecolinguistics Association. The International Ecolinguistics Association. No Date. Electronic. 22 July 2020.
4 comments:
Very insightful post. Anthropology and its sub genres and its makeup to a lot of things in society is very interesting. There always something new to learn that relates to human behavior or evolution.
-Jesse Logan
Another Blog that shows how fundamental Anthropology is. I love learning about how humans interact. I learned about Ecolinguistics. I learned that Ecolinguistic studies now include research into the loss of biolinguistics diversity. Great Blog.
-Jasmine Hill
The aspects of language and the fields it could go based on is interesting in the influencd or fostering of thoughts and the environmental factors that are surrounded and using these in efforts to preserve and not destroy cultures, environment, and language.
Qwynn Marquez
The post offers important historical background by linking the emergence of ecolinguistics to ideas of linguistic determinism and its subsequent growth in the 1990s. It demonstrates how ecolinguistics has changed throughout time to meet urgent problems like the preservation of endangered languages and the loss of biolinguistic diversity. Ecolinguistics' importance in tackling today's environmental concerns is highlighted by the discussion of its possible applications in environmental sciences, conservation, and preservation. Ecolinguistics provides important insights for sustainable development and conservation efforts by analyzing how language affects our behavior toward the environment and how we perceive it.
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